“Even if Covid-19 is no longer in the foreground, the pandemic is not over. We need to be ready for the next few months. We will continue to work with and on behalf of our Member States to ensure adequate vaccine supplies for their needs, including potential adapted vaccines. ‘ She wrote it up Twitter EU Commissioner for Health Stella Kyriakides.
The weapon of vaccines
However, encouraging messages emerge from the survey carried out by The European House – Ambrosetti and by the Interdepartmental Center for Ethics and Integrity in Research of the CNR in collaboration with SWG on the level of confidence of Italians towards vaccines. Out of a sample of 2,000 citizens interviewed, 92% believe that vaccines are a safe and effective health tool to combat infectious diseases and that for 33% of the interviewees the level of confidence during the pandemic has increased, especially in men, in Regions of the South and between Generation Z. The survey was presented during an event organized by The European House – Ambrosetti with the non-conditioning contribution of Pfizer in Rome. Positive signs also in view of the resumption of the anti-COVID vaccination campaign next autumn: 77% declare themselves in favor of the fourth dose of the anti-COVID-19 vaccination next autumn and 17% of those who have not yet been vaccinated show themselves open to do so. The data on influenza vaccination are also encouraging, with 95% of the children vaccinated in the last season declaring themselves in favor of repeating the administration. It also emerged that 88% of the interviewees feel informed about vaccines, preferring their own doctor, the opinion of scientists and institutional websites as sources of information; informal information channels, such as friends and relatives and social media / forums / blogs, remain the most used sources by those who are more skeptical of vaccinations. Good knowledge of mandatory vaccinations, poor knowledge of other recommended vaccines: 98% of the interviewees say they are aware of the existence of mandatory vaccinations in children but only 76% remember at least some of them, values that drop respectively to 94% and 63% for recommended childhood vaccinations. In both cases, the most informed are people with minor children and women. The law on compulsory vaccines for the 0-16 year old age group and the numerous awareness-raising initiatives carried out have certainly contributed to increasing the level of knowledge of pediatric vaccinations with consequent coverage rates which, although decreasing during the pandemic, remain on values higher than 90%.
The situation of adolescent and adult vaccinations is different. Only 34% of the interviewees declared that they had been vaccinated against the papilloma virus (in the age group 18-30 years), only 28% against pneumococcus (in the age group 60-70 years), only 11 % against herpes zoster (in the 60-70 age group). “The survey provides some important indications on the levers on which to act to improve the knowledge and, consequently, the confidence of citizens towards vaccination prevention. says Daniela Bianco – Partner and Head of the Healthcare Area of The European House – Ambrosetti.
Furthermore, 1 in 2 of the hesitant and opposed to certain vaccinations such as the anti-pneumococcal, anti-herpes-zoster and anti-papilloma virus vaccines are willing to learn more before making a decision. The need therefore emerges to increase communication efforts to increase the level of knowledge of citizens also about these vaccinations. 83% of the interviewees state that they know people who hesitate or refuse to get vaccinated: if 26% hesitate or refuse to get vaccinated for all vaccines in general, 57% are only in reference to the anti-COVID-19 vaccine. The perceived obstacles to vaccination are essentially: the fear of health risks and information gaps (incorrect or missing information). Even among subjects who said they did not consider vaccines safe and effective and unvaccinated against COVID-19, safety concerns remained the main reason for non-vaccination, followed by doubts about the trials. Among the tools that, according to the citizens themselves, can contribute to increasing the level of trust in vaccination programs, there are greater dialogue with their trusted doctor or pharmacist, greater transparency of the institutions that deal with health and more frequent information campaigns by health institutions; greater dialogue and better information are also judged to be the most effective tools for making people who hesitate or refuse to get vaccinated change their minds. The increase in the points of administration of vaccinations also makes it possible to bring citizens closer to vaccination prevention: especially pharmacies but also study and work places are the most popular; even among those who are less favorable to vaccines or have not been vaccinated against COVID-19, the pharmacy is considered an appropriate place for the administration of vaccines.